Breaking News

This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used.

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• 
• SOURCE: Al Jazeera
  9/18/2020
  

  The Danger Of Depoliticising Black Power Activism

  Both celebrities and consumer brands have appropriated the aesthetics of the Black Panther Party and other Black militants, without dealing with the substance of their politics. 

• 
• SOURCE: Bloomberg
  9/20/2020
  

  Trump Wants $5 Billion From TikTok Deal for History Project

  This announcement continues a Trump tradition of claiming other nations will pay for domestic culture war projects. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/21/2020
  

  Donald Trump vs. the Ivy League: An Election-Year Battle

  The Trump administration has always engaged in rhetorical attacks on Ivy League institutions as elitist, but critics say launching a civil rights investigation of Princeton represents an effort to weaponize executive branch agencies to fight a culture war. 

• 
• SOURCE: Seattle Times
  9/18/2020
  

  How Jimi Hendrix, Racism and Grunge Intersect, 50 Years after the Guitarist’s Death

  Although the guitarist made a global impact on rock music, he left a particular legacy for Black musicians in his hometown of Seattle. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  9/21/2020
  

  Conservatives Are Already Whitewashing the Trump Years

  Danielle Pletka’s historical revision of Jesse Helms’s career shows how Trumpists will rationalize their role in this disastrous presidency.

• 
• SOURCE: The Nation
  9/21/2020
  

  My Life in the Media Machine

  by Tom Scocca

  Independent journalism has been in a decades-long death spiral because "the circulatory system of money that had made the writing possible was punctured and bleeding out, and draining into Silicon Valley."

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Education
  9/21/2020
  

  U of Michigan Faculty Vote No Confidence in President

  The university's reopening plans were at the center of a narrow vote by the university's faculty to declare no confidence in President Mark Schlissel.

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  9/21/2020
  

  Arbitrator Sides with U of Akron on Faculty Layoffs

  Some of the terminated faculty members had since chosen to retire, but the result means that the 67 who did not will not be able to return to their jobs.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/22/2020
  

  How the Religious Right Has Transformed the Supreme Court

  Law professors Lee Epstein and Eric Posner argue that the conservative bloc on the court has shifted from the libertarianism favored by big business to a more aggressive religious activism. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/22/2020
  

  Down With Judicial Supremacy!

  by Jamelle Bouie

  The power of the courts to define the meaning of the Constitution has been challenged by legislative, executive and popular action at different times in American history. If that prospect seems scary, remember that it's the process that overthrew the Dred Scott decision as the law of the land, argues NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie.

• 
• SOURCE: Bloomberg CityLab
  9/21/2020
  

  A Neighborhood’s Race Affects Home Values More Now Than in 1980

  by Brentin Mock

  The real estate industry has adopted appraisal standards in response to fair housing laws that are, on the surface, race-neutral. But they don't account for the ways that racism has lowered the sale value in diverse neighborhoods, and still penalize Black and Latino homeowners. 

• 
• SOURCE: CBS News
  9/20/2020
  

  H.R. McMaster on Trump's White House and American National Security (Video)

  A "60 Minutes" interview with former Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster paints a picture of weakened American leadership and confusion in foreign policy. 

• 
• SOURCE: Minneapolis Star-Tribune
  9/19/2020
  

  Trump's Praise of Robert E. Lee Gets Pushback from Minnesotans Proud of State's Role at Gettysburg

  Many Minnesotans took issue with Donald Trump's praise for Robert E. Lee at a rally in Bemidji, particularly because of the role of Minnesota troops in defeating the Confederacy. 

• 
• SOURCE: National Geographic
  9/20/2020
  

  Why The Supreme Court Ended Up With Nine Justices—And How That Could Change

  The number of Supreme Court justices is a matter of legislation and custom, not a constitutional mandate. That number has changed across American history. 

• 
• SOURCE: Lakeland (FL) Ledger
  9/20/2020
  

  Black and White Polk Pastors Overcome Racism in Show of Forgiveness and Grace

  Richard Harris and Kenneth Stephens committed to Christian demands for forgiveness and reconciliation, and have shared their personal stories in an effort to heal racial divisions. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/20/2020
  

  Robert S. Graetz, Rare White Minister to Back Bus Boycott, Dies at 92

  Robert Graetz was a rare white voice in favor of desegregation and an ally to the organizers of the Montgomery bus boycott. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Grio
  9/20/2020
  

  ‘Fifth Girl’ In 1963 KKK Church Bombing Seeks Apology, Restitution

  Sarah Collins Rudolph argues that the State of Alabama, in the person of Governor George Wallace, directly incited the racial hatred that led to the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  9/20/2020
  

  Donald Kendall, Who Built Pepsico into a Soda and Snack-Food Giant, Dies at 99

  The late president of Pepsi-Cola was a leader in bringing American products to the Soviet bloc and Communist China during the cold war and was influential in pushing Richard Nixon to support the CIA's coup against democratically-elected socialist Salvador Allende in Chile.

• 
• SOURCE: NBC News
  9/20/2020
  

  These Confederate Statues were Removed. But Where Did they Go?

  While many localities have moved swiftly to remove Confederate memorials from public ground, the ultimate disposition of many of the statues is still to be determined. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/11/2020
  

  Stories of Then That Still Hold Up Now

  Margaret Atwood, Héctor Tobar, Thomas Mallon and Brenda Wineapple on older political novels they admire that have a lot to say about the world today.